I read Publisher’s Weekly every week as part of my job. There’s always a little graph showing the ups and downs of book sales. Sometimes there is good news and overall sales are up. Sometimes sales are down. But almost every week there’s one figure that constantly declines, and it’s been doing so for years. It’s the mass market paperback category.
The inexpensive book format goes back to the Civil War era, when they were called dime novels. But the books we’re familiar with today truly debuted in 1935. It was the Depression, and book sales were declining. A publisher in London got the idea to make books with paper covers, so they would be cheaper to produce. The books, produced under the Penguin imprint, cost a sixpence, or about four cents at the current exchange rate, the same as a pack of ten cigarettes. Although paper covers were what made them different, it actually wasn’t what made them cheaper. It was that they were produced in volume. The break-even point was 17,000 copies. And quantity was the name of the game. Within six months, one million Penguin books were sold and an industry was born.
An industry which is now dying. I watch its demise daily. When I started work at the Laramie County Library nearly 30 years ago, we had six racks devoted specifically to small-format paperbacks. They circulated by the bagful. Nearly every day we checked out and checked in a hundred or more. Shelving these books first introduced me to the historical romance genre, and ultimately launched my writing career.
When I sold my first book, nearly every romance came out in mass market paperback. There were a few authors who might have releases in trade paperback, but a hardback romance was very rare. Even for a first book, print runs were usually 50,000 or more. The books were distributed everywhere: bookstores, grocery stories, drugstores, airports. The titles rotated in and out every month. My editor used to say the books had “the shelf life of a banana.” Unless you were a big name, your books didn’t stay in print more than a year or two. On the other hand, your book was competing against only the dozen or so titles in your genre that came out that month (and a handful of authors who sold enough to actually get their backlist on the shelf.)
It was a profitable business model. I remember being at a book signing with a mid-list romance author who told me she could easily make $20,000 per book. But things changed dramatically a couple of years later. The 400-plus distributors consolidated until there were under 50. Now I suspect fewer than a half dozen companies control the market.
That hurt authors a lot. The big companies didn’t want to take a chance on new authors; they would rather put out the backlist titles of bestsellers than risk precious shelf space on an unknown. But fewer distributors didn’t kill the mass market paperback. E-books did. It took longer than many people predicted, but eventually, as computers became part of our daily existence, digital books took over, at least for the voracious-reader segment of the market.
Daily, I am surrounded by print books and the people who read them. Library patrons rarely ask about e-books. I tell them about our e-book library when I make them a card, but only a few express any interest. They are in the library and surrounded by physical books. We can help them find what they want, put it into their hands, and help them check it out. Almost everyone agrees that a print book is more satisfying. It involves not just one, but all the senses. (Well, maybe not taste. Although we do get back quite a number of books with bite marks.)
But there some patrons I never see these days. They buy and check out e-books and never come to the library. And they are the people who used to check out not just a stack, but a whole bagful of books. Now, through their tiny device, they have access to hundreds of thousands of books with a flick of their fingers.
My first book was published as a mass market paperback. Maybe that’s why I have a deep fondness for the format. The vivid, sometimes lurid, sometimes beautiful covers. The neat way they fit into your hand and your purse. The smell of them. Not as beguiling as the intoxicating odor of an old hardback, but still…that lovely scent of murky, sweetish ink and crisp paper.
We still have eight racks of paperbacks at the library…for now. In two or three years, those eight will be down to three or four. And eventually…none.
There will still be trade paperbacks and hardbacks, I have no doubt. But the dime novel, the pocket book? It will be a memory. A fond one for a lot of us.
That’s really interesting. I’ve wondered what has been going on with mass-market paperbacks. Thank you, Mary.
It’s not a trend I’m happy about, but just for example, last month they were down 7%. And they sales have declined every month I can remember for years.
Good piece, Mary. My sense is that Harlequin has taken over a large segment of the MMP market. They, at least, acquired MMP rights to a few of my mystery titles.
Yes, Harlequin is still going strong. They have a huge book club/mailing list business plus sell paperbacks all over the world. Definitely a bright spot.
I was right there with you in the library, Mary, smelling the books. Thanks for this insightful and sentimental tour of paperback history.
I’m looking back with fondness, that’s for sure.
I’ve got my first novel up on Kindle and it seems so foreign. My wife was intake manager at ECHO in Evergreen and when old rich people die their kids dump their books there. & if they aren’t rescued they are sold to “Book Knackers” for weight and shredded. I’ve saved maybe 1500 hard and paperbacks. Up to my ears in them. MANY signed 1st editions. I sit in my study surrounded by them and wonder who will save them when I am gone?
What a world, what a world!
Sad, I know. We get dozens and dozens of paperbacks donated to the library. We sell a few in our store but most of them we sell to a company that sells them online and distributes them to charity. But a lot of them end up getting recycled.
Books, even trade paperbacks, are periodicals now. I realize this as I sift through my collection and let them go. I have to. They are filling my house, and we are lucky enough to have a house. Our daughter and most of her friends live in tiny apartments. Many of them have to relocate often because of the unstable job market. Ebooks allow these young people to have libararies they could not otherwise accomodate. They also allow older people who are downsizing to keep books, even as they re-home (or dump) them. Back to my original statement, I think the “forever” prestige of a “book” was always an illusion. Even the illusion is dying.
I’m with you. I only read e-books when I travel, or if that’s the only form it comes in. I, too, have masses of paperbacks. I’m sure my kids will pitch them when I’m gone. Sigh.
As always, Mary, an interesting post. Things change so quickly and so constantly that it’s difficult to keep up.
Amen, to that. It’s a hard thing for me to face, when I think of my closet full of my paperback backlist and the dozens of paperbacks by friends and authors I love on my bookshelves.
You’re not kidding. Even the young people who are very comfortable with the digital world I think are feeling overwhelmed by the constant changes.
I’m in the library a lot, either for myself or to take my mother. It’s sad to see how many people come in and never touch a book. They’re there to use a computer or check out a movie. It bothers me most when they’re with children. What a great opportunity they miss to introduce their children to different worlds and just spend quality time with them.
I love my Kindle, but some books have to be held. When they’re double stacked and falling off the shelves, I donate them to nursing homes and shelters. People there appreciate them so much.
Great interesting post. When I’m in the store I always check out the racks. Not much variety though.
That’s the sad thing. The only want to carry the bestsellers. So where will the bestsellers in the future come from?
Mary, as a former bookseller, I can relate to this post. The digital (e-book) industry exploded and mass paperbacks were no longer the acceptable form of reading material. Though I have a kindle, I treasure the feel of a paperback in my hands. It’s the smell, colors–everything you described in your post! In truth, I get more a sense of the story when I read it from a paperback. Does this make any sense? I’ve down-sized over the years, but treasure my bookcases and cabinets, which still contain my “precious” friends–mass market paperbacks. I suppose I’m a dying breed, right?
I with you there, as a dying breed. But the good thing is that young people still really do value print books. I think so much of their life is digital, it’s refreshing to have something real. It’s just like the way they brought vinyl back. So, some things will live on.
Very interesting post, Mary. You’re so right. I can’t remember the last time I read a pocketbook, and I read a lot. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for stopping by. Sad to see them go, indeed.
I used to read a lot of mass market paperbacks, but now find the print is usually too small for me to enjoy without my eyes getting too tired. I’ve gone back to hardcovers or trade paperbacks with an occasional ebook. My husband prefers ebooks using Overdrive through our library system, especially enjoying the ability to adjust the font for easy reading..
Ah, yes, the font issue. I think that’s why many baby boomers read e-books.
Sad and very interesting, Mary.
It is sad. But time marches on.
I see fewer and fewer mass market paperbacks to buy for our library district. They are still most popular with romance and mystery readers. Over the years I’ve had this job, trade paperbacks have become more popular–mostly for “women’s” and literary fiction. The biggest growth in the industry is eaudio. Overall, e-book sales have flattened–we still have readers who want print. But circulation for all physical materials has fallen dramatically since 2010, when we started buying ebooks and eaudiobooks. Plus many libraries are devoting more space to computers & meeting rooms and decreasing shelving.
I agree that digital audio is the hottest market now, even more than ebooks. Although we haven’t reduced shelf space yet, we have started working on a “maker space” that will eventually result in less area for books and physical materials. And there are times when it seems like we stay open only for the meeting rooms and computer room patrons. Regular library patrons are few and far between, especially at night. Hard to get used to a library without lots of books, but it’s probably going to happen. Thanks for your comment.
I have such fond memories of growing up with mass market paperbacks. What’s interesting though is services for independent publishers, like Ingram Spark and Barnes & Noble Print are looking into offering mass market paperbacks soon. I think they’d be fantastic for printing novellas to sell at cons. I love the size and the smell of them. Admittedly, however, the bulk of the books I’ve purchased in the past five years have been hardcovers, trade paperback, and ebook. The few mass market paperbacks I have purchased recently have been cozy mystery and urban fantasy, two genres where the mass market paperback isn’t dead – yet.